Greg Rose from Virgin Music sat down with 30 Seconds To Mars to find out about life on mars, living (or not) in Brazil, and helping their fans give birth. Read on to find out everything Jared Leto and co had to say.

Jared Leto: You have to say action

Greg Rose: Action

JL: Felt good didn’t it

GR: So good. So you’ve just got back into London. You played here a while ago, what’s it like to be back?

JL: It’s like coming full circle, the old auro borus. We not only played London but Nottingham, Manchester, Bournemouth, Cardiff.

Shannon Leto: It’s weird you saying ‘a while ago’, because it feels like a week, but it’s been a month.

GR: What is your favourite place to play? JL: We’ve been to pretty amazing places. We went to St Petersburg, Finland, Sweden, Belgium, Paris, Italy, Germany. It was the best run of shows we’ve ever done. They were the most fun, it was out of control, it was great. But it’s nice to come back to London at the end, it puts some closure on the European leg. GR: When you’re away from Europe, are you conscious of how big 30 Seconds To Mars are over here?

JL: No, not at all. You play these shows and suddenly you think ‘there’s a lot of people in front of us at Wembley Arena right now!’ It’s definitely humbling. We’re really grateful for it, it’s incredible. We never thought in a million years that we would be able to come to the UK and tour like this. We never thought we could do this, so we’re pretty happy.

GR: You guys all live in LA now…

JL: I actually moved to Brazil.

GR: You moved to Brazil?

JL: Yeah…

GR: Tell me about that.

JL: I just wanted to say it, because it sounded nice to say. It just felt good. It’s actually a secret at the moment; I wasn’t going to say anything.

GR: Ok…

JL: I feel like we’re having dinner or something, so I was being honest for once. Rio is beautiful, oh god. It’s so alive and passionate.

SL: So passionate.

Tomo Miličević: Passionate’s a good word to describe Rio. GR: And you’re from Louisiana originally. What’s that like? JL: It’s basically like the Rio of the States. It’s as south as you can get besides Florida and Texas, sure, but there’s something tropical about it.

GR: I wanted to ask about your fans. You have a relationship with fans where they are as close to you as possible, despite you being this massive band.

JL: I think we just open the door. We have from the beginning. We have a genuine interest and curiosity, it grew as we grew.

SL: it feels very natural.

GR: Does it ever get too much? Do you ever want to close that door?

JL: Well, when you wake up on the tour bus sleeping next to somebody called France – from France.

TM: Yeah, that can be tough.

GR: What’s the strangest thing you’ve been asked to do by fans?

TM: To help give birth.

SL: Yeah, that was weird.

TM: It was very strange.

SL: Because we’re not doctors.

TM: They wanted us in the room with the masks and the whole thing – it was weird.

GR: Why don’t other bands give birth for their fans? No, not really. Why do you think other bands don’t open that door and try to keep themselves separate from their fans? JL: I don’t know, it’s either an open system or closed. For us, we’ve always had a really strong community and we like it that way. It’s different strokes for different folks. We’ve always been in part defined by this family of fans around the world that have supported us. We find a lot of inspiration from that.

GR: And you had fans heavily involved in the making of ‘This Is War’?

JL: Yeah, and we’ve had people onstage every night. We did the Faces of Mars, taking photos of people from all over the world, we’ve got fans singing on the record. It doesn’t always have to be about that, sometimes it’s little things that we do digitally. I tend to learn a lot from our audience around the world and I think it’s exciting and interesting. We’re working on a live DVD and asking people to come and film at shows and taking submissions. TM: Yeah, that will be really cool.

GR: Another thing you guys do differently is music videos (see the video for ‘Kings And Queens’ above). Are they as important as the music?

SL: Oh, definitely. The visual aspect has always been equally important as the music. They are paired together very nicely by Jared there… GR: There always seems to be some new interactive thing going on with you, rather than just albums and singles coming out. Do you see yourselves and other bands pushing on further in that direction?

JL: I think that it depends on the band, but new technology provides new opportunities to have greater interactivity, deeper and more immediate conversations with audiences around the world and to create some synergy in a way that wasn’t there before. In a way that this interview would have at one time been digested by English people, now that is not the case at all – everything is global. It will be experienced by people all around the world. We could all just stay in one place eventually! So there has been a change and we’ve responded to that, finding new ways to provide content. The game has changed but it’s interesting and we tend to find a lot of reward in it.

GR: Because of that, do you think the music matters as much now?

JL: Yes it does, but in different ways. You may not stare at an album cover and look at a giant piece of artwork, but now you have less of a two-dimensional experience, more of a conversation that wasn’t there before. Not only one t-shirt, and the show and the tour; now there is a plethora of experience that there is for the listener to have. The sky’s limit – it depends how far you want to push it.

GR: You always seem to be on tour. How do you chill out when you get a break?

SL: You don’t really chill out on tour to be honest. You pretty much work from the time you wake up until you go to sleep. Then maybe you have a day off and it’s just decompression time.

JL: He sounds real bummed about that.

TM: There are times during the day that you can just walk, clear your head, look at architecture in whatever city you are in. GR: Do you get time to have fun, or is fun for you being onstage?

TM: Fun is being on stage, for sure.

SL: The live show is the reward for making the record and going on tour and sharing the music with everybody is the reward for the hard creative process, definitely. GR: You’ve been together for a long time now. What’s been your proudest moment?

JL: I think playing Wembley was a big milestone for us, our success in the UK and Europe. We’re excited about starting our first tour in North America in three years. Then there is Asia, Australia, South America, then back here for festivals. There’s a lot of great stuff happening. GR: When are you going to be satisfied? What are you driving to?

JL: I think you find satisfaction in the smallest events. It could be a show, it could be a moment, it could be a conversation, it could be a meal, it could be a book that you read. And then there are the big things that happen that are pretty mind-blowing. But it’s a journey, not a destination. Did you feel that? SL: I was just going to say, I felt that.

TM: My big toe is kind of tingling.

JL: (Spotting shorthand notes) You write in shorthand?

SL: That’s old school!

GR: To be honest it’s not much quicker than my normal writing now. I should practice more. SL: Only if you feel the need to. JL: It would be an interesting art project to do interpretations of things like the Declaration of Independence or the Constitution and really epic things in shorthand. Wouldn’t it?

GR: Future artwork for 30 Seconds To Mars?

JL: Yeah SL: Don’t steal the artwork dude.

GR: Obligatory mars-related question. Is there life on mars?

JL: Well, certainly there is life on mars, but you have to consider what you mean by ‘life’. In universal terms everything is life, from this table to the blood in your body, everything is as important as the next. So the answer is yes. Life in terms of science-fiction life? Probably not. But where you find ice, and rock and activity, there will be something happening, somewhere. On what level who knows.

SL: If you have two hours he can blow your mind with the theory, I heard it the other night.

JL: It’s interesting that there are these huge discoveries where we just go – « oh ». You know, there is water on the moon, « oh, ok ». In the form of ice. On mars they think there is a sheet of ice that covers huge sections of the surface. If you told someone that 50 years ago they wouldn’t believe you. Now it’s like, « that’s great, is the new iPhone out? », you know? But I’m using BlackBerry. Thanks for your time.

GR: I wish I’d researched more about mars for this interview.

JL: Well, hey, get it together buddy.

GR: Hey, I can do shorthand at least. JL: You’re a step ahead of me…

‘This Is War’ is out now. 30 Seconds To Mars are currently preparing to tour the US and will be back in Europe for festivals including Download and T In The Park this summer.